Attendance Fraud might be Drilling a Hole in your Pocket, Without Your Notice

Poor or erratic attendance negatively impacts a company’s performance. The shift from manual attendance marking to digital attendance was considered a boon for companies who wished to expel the chances of attendance fraud. However, with the huge number of biometric devices and card readers in the market, we all assume that this is a problem of the past!

Not so, says the American Payroll Association. They estimate that every year companies in the USA lose 15-20 billion dollars in direct ‘Attendance Fraud’, with productivity losses exceeding 400 billion dollars!

So what is ‘Attendance Fraud’ really? Should missing a few attendance entries be labeled as fraud? It should when it cost companies large sums of money. According to Zaheer Hussain, an HR expert in India, who used to run a six sigma consultancy: “Statistics indicate that 3 out of 4 people don’t always report accurate attendance. Many companies don’t really realize the impact of this, as they are too busy concentrating on their core businesses. However, if you add it all up, it suddenly becomes a very alarming statistic, and this is when words like attendance fraud get thrown around.”

Alternative solutions to biometrics and card readers are not available as end to end solutions. Tracking, tagging staff and other individual solutions are available as different modules in different softwares. But end to end solutions that offer the same cost and advantages as biometrics and card readers are few and far between.

Blueleaf Cyberspace Systems is a Bangalore-based startup doing significant research in the field of human resource optimization and management. The company provides SaaS-based solutions to small, mid-size and large organisations that are looking to enhance employee productivity.

“We offer a solution that not only goes a long way to solving the productivity issues but also match biometrics and card readers on cost. We offer end-to-end solutions for office staff, field staff and unusually, for staff who don't have smart phones. Our product needs no complicated installations and is setup on the employees mobile though an SMS. The employee signs-in when they start their work and signs-out when then finish. During this time, the system checks them at regular periods and also registers behavioral patterns,” says Dr. Joseph Rasquinha, co-founder and CEO.

“Biometric devices were considered to be more accurate while compared to manual registering of data. However, they can still be manipulated easily. We have observed patterns where employees have become more punctual, careful and productive at workplace when we shifted to digital attendance systems. We are now looking to take this one step further with the help of big data and observing behavioral patterns of employees at work. This not only helps us identify underperforming employees, but also reward the performers” said Anant K, head of Human Resources of a leading multi-national firm operating in India and Middle East.

According to Dr. Joseph: “In a time where almost everyone is facing financial pressure on their businesses, every aspect of a company’s operation is looked at with a tooth-comb. Companies are beginning to realize that attendance is a major cause for concern. Biometric and card readers can be easily manipulated to ensure that official time spent is reduced, though full credit is given to the employees. However if our system shows that an employee was 8 hours in the office, then he was 8 hours in the office."

Blueleaf Cyberspace has over 3,000 users of its system and has installed it in India, Middle East and Sri Lanka. What is also interesting about the product is that it works for any industry segment and for any size of company. They have installed it among 5 people companies and 1,000 people companies, which potentialises them as a disrupter in this industry. And it is a very large industry. Data indicates that the Biometric market is estimated at 45 billion dollars worldwide, and around 3.5 billion in India. Blueleaf are invested in by the 250 million dollars Ferns Group who have a diverse portfolio from Realty, Technology, and Hospitality.